Challenger Sports - British Soccer Camp

Challenger Sports British Soccer Camp 2016

Disclosure: I was given a complimentary registration for one week of camp for my son and asked to write a review. All opinions are my own - and my kid's!

Soccer. Baseball. Flag Football. Lacrosse. Cross Country.

My oldest son is Mr. Athletic and has tried all of those sports starting at age three. He's 14 now and while he enjoyed the other sports, he still keeps coming back to his first love, Soccer.

Last year, we were offered the chance to participate in the British Soccer Camp program. It being new to us, I only signed him up for the half day option. It was July in Georgia, y'all, and I didn't want my kid to stroke out, especially if he ended up hating the camp.

Fast forward to this year. When I told him we would be enrolling again, he begged me to put him in full day which was 9-4. We chose the June option (July is still available near us!) and sallied forth.

Challenger Sports British Soccer Camp is available for ages 3 to 15. They will be split by age level for the half day camps. After the half day campers leave, the full day campers band together to continue their day. The full day camp is available to kids ages 7-15. They take an hour break in the middle of the day to have lunch and allow the coaches to see off the half day campers and then switch gears for the rest of the day.

I felt like there was a good mix of ages and genders. I was concerned since my son was one of the oldest kids there, but he quickly made friends with the boys and girls closest to his age.

I asked him what he liked about the camp and he said, believe it or not, the drills! He really wants to improve and felt like this camp taught him important skills. He appreciated that this camp was not just about getting to play soccer in the summer or "something to do"; it was focused on technical skills and improvement.

The teen who rarely smiles for pictures, in his happy place.

He also reported that while it was a good workout, it wasn't boring! The coaches made it fun with games and crazy names for things. The campers were divided into countries and points were collected to count toward the "World Cup" match on Friday! Campers were also given "homework" - find out interesting facts about your assigned country to share with the other campers, get creative to make your country's flag out of any materials you want... it was little touches such as these that added to the fun and helped build community.

Lend a friend a hand!

In addition to skills, sportsmanship was covered, as well. In the above picture, it almost looks like these kids are fighting. I wasn't fast enough to adequately capture this young lady offering her hand and helping up this young man after he tripped and fell. Points are awarded and deducted from the World Cup competition for good and bad sportsmanship.

I also love how the older kids encouraged the younger kids. I asked my son if he felt having the younger kids out there with him kept him from playing as hard as he wanted and he said it was fine. He has a soft spot for younger kids and it warmed my heart to see him as a role model for a couple of them who clearly looked up to him!

My son has a shadow!

Overall, we were both very pleased with the experience. Instead of asking me to sign him up again NEXT year, he is now begging me to sign him up for the July session as well!

Coach Jimmy, Camp Director

Challenger Sports has camps all over the country, so if you feel like this would be a good fit for your child, look up what is available in your area! Sessions are still enrolling for this summer. Our enrollment included a t-shirt and a soccer ball as well as an evaluation from his coach on not only his strengths but the skills he needs to develop. If you use code USFG16 at registration, you also score a free water bottle! I'm sad that since my son is already 14 that he will have only one more year with this program! Go ahead and get your child in your local program now so that he has years of British Soccer Camp ahead of him or her!

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